CLEOPATRA   [To Seleucus] Prithee, go hence, Or I shall show the cinders of my spirits Through th’ashes of my chance. Wert thou a man Thou wouldst have mercy on me. CAESAR                                  Forbear, Seleucus. [Exit Seleucus] CLEOPATRA   Be it known that we, the greatest, are misthought For things that others do; and when we fall We answer […]

CAESAR                      Good queen, let us entreat you. CLEOPATRA  O, Caesar, what a wounding shame is this, That thou vouchsafing here to visit me, Doing the honour of thy lordliness To one so meek—that mine own servant should Parcel the sum of my disgraces by Addition of his envy. Say, good Caesar, That I some lady […]

CLEOPATRA               See, Caesar! O, behold How pomp is followed! Mine will now be yours, And should we shift estates, yours would be mine. The ingratitude of this Seleucus does Even make me wild.—O slave, of no more trust Than love that’s hired! What, go’st thou back? Thou shalt Go back, I warrant thee; but I’ll […]

SELEUCUS      Madam, I had rather seal my lips Than to my peril speak that which is not. CLEOPATRA   What have I kept back? SELEUCUS Enough to purchase what you have made known. CAESAR          Nay, blush not, Cleopatra. I approve Your wisdom in the deed.    (5.2.141-146)   A tiny little exchange—and in fact the whole Seleucus […]

CLEOPATRA   And may through all the world! ’Tis yours, and we, Your scutcheons and your signs of conquest, shall Hang in what place you please. Here, my good lord. [She gives him a document] CAESAR          You shall advise me in all for Cleopatra. CLEOPATRA This is the brief of money, plate, and jewels I am […]

CAESAR                      Cleopatra, know We will extenuate rather than enforce. If you apply yourself to our intents, Which towards you are most gentle, you shall find A benefit in this change; but if you seek To lay on me a cruelty by taking Antony’s course, you shall bereave yourself Of my good purposes and put your […]

CAESAR          Take to you no hard thoughts. The record of what injuries you did us, Though written in our flesh, we shall remember As things but done by chance. CLEOPATRA   Sole sir o’th’ world, I cannot project mine own cause so well To make it clear, but do confess I have Been laden with like […]

Flourish. Enter Proculeius, Caesar, Gallus, Maecenas, and others of his train ALL                  Make way, there! Caesar! CAESAR          Which is the Queen of Egypt? DOLABELLA   [to Cleopatra] It is the Emperor, madam. Cleopatra kneels CAESAR          Arise! You shall not kneel. I pray you rise, rise, Egypt. CLEOPATRA               [rising] Sir, the gods Will have it thus. My master and […]

DOLABELLA   Hear me, good madam: Your loss is as yourself, great, and you bear it As answering to the weight. Would I might never O’ertake pursued success but I do feel, By the rebound of yours, a grief that smites My very heart at root. CLEOPATRA  I thank you, sir. Know you what Caesar means […]

DOLABELLA                           Cleopatra— CLEOPATRA   Think you there was, or might be, such a man As this I dreamt of? DOLABELLA                           Gentle madam, no. CLEOPATRA   You lie, up to the hearing of the gods. But if there be, or ever were one such, It’s past the size of dreaming. Nature wants stuff To vie strange forms […]